Probe Urged in Sentencing of Garcetti Donor’s Grandson
The state attorney general’s office should investigate a plea bargain that resulted in the grandson of a campaign donor to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti getting 16 months in prison instead of a possible life term, the Assn. of Deputy District Attorneys board voted.
On a voice vote, the board of the nonunion association voted Wednesday night to ask the state agency to “conduct an investigation to see if, in fact, there were improprieties” in the case against Brian John McMorrow, said Deputy Dist. Atty. James Bozajian.
But Garcetti said Thursday that he had nothing to do with the plea bargain. Such decisions are left up to deputy district attorneys, he said.
The deputy who handled the case, James Falco, has said all along there was no connection between a contribution and the outcome of McMorrow’s case.
A two-time convicted robber, McMorrow was charged last year with attempted arson--which could have brought him life behind bars under California’s “three strikes” law. He pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of attempted vandalism after prosecutors opted to strike one of his prior “strikes,” according to court records.
McMorrow’s grandfather, Westside businessman B.J. McMorrow, donated about $13,000 to Garcetti’s 1992 campaign.
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